URI, not drinking water

[eva21513]

Poor Millie is still having bad luck =( She had a stomach bug about 2 weeks ago, and that finally resolved, but now she has a pretty bad upper respiratory infection. I took her to the vet the evening of 12/30 and they said she had a fever and gave her Convenia (wish I googled that before I said “okay go ahead!”) and fluids. She’s sneezing less but I think that’s actually a bad thing because the mucus is just kinda stuck. She’s started shaking her head a lot in the past 24 hours too (I’m running two humidifiers in the house and at night I close her in the bedroom with me with both humidifiers running.) Right now she’s at rest and I’m counting 28 breaths per minute.

She’s eating a little, but prefers dry food (WHY?!?!) and has not had any water at all since before I took her to the vet. I know the subQ fluids they gave probably held her over for yesterday, but she only peed a tiny bit this morning (normally has a BIG morning pee) and I think her gums look pale. I got her to eat maybe 1/4 of one of those Sheba perfect portion things this morning. I’ve tried boiling chicken, adding water to the Sheba wet food, offering tuna water, and she’s turned up her nose at all those items. She’s normally great about drinking water. And she’s always been a picky eater.

I feel myself rambling here, sorry! I’m just worried and feel awful for her and feel helpless.

At what point would you guys be concerned, and what interventions would you take? My vet is closed today (and only open half a day tand the closest emergency vet is an hour away.

 

[mittens23]

Poor Millie is still having bad luck =( She had a stomach bug about 2 weeks ago, and that finally resolved, but now she has a pretty bad upper respiratory infection. I took her to the vet the evening of 12/30 and they said she had a fever and gave her Convenia (wish I googled that before I said “okay go ahead!”) and fluids. She’s sneezing less but I think that’s actually a bad thing because the mucus is just kinda stuck. She’s started shaking her head a lot in the past 24 hours too (I’m running two humidifiers in the house and at night I close her in the bedroom with me with both humidifiers running.) Right now she’s at rest and I’m counting 28 breaths per minute.

She’s eating a little, but prefers dry food (WHY?!?!) and has not had any water at all since before I took her to the vet. I know the subQ fluids they gave probably held her over for yesterday, but she only peed a tiny bit this morning (normally has a BIG morning pee) and I think her gums look pale. I got her to eat maybe 1/4 of one of those Sheba perfect portion things this morning. I’ve tried boiling chicken, adding water to the Sheba wet food, offering tuna water, and she’s turned up her nose at all those items. She’s normally great about drinking water. And she’s always been a picky eater.

I feel myself rambling here, sorry! I’m just worried and feel awful for her and feel helpless.

At what point would you guys be concerned, and what interventions would you take? My vet is closed today (and only open half a day tand the closest emergency vet is an hour away.

when xena had a sub q it took her about 2 days before she would drink water. She to was a dry kibble only. I let her have it and prayed to God she would drink water. She did. With the sub q she is hydrated. Keep us posted.

 

[eva21513]

when xena had a sub q it took her about 2 days before she would drink water. She to was a dry kibble only. I let her have it and prayed to God she would drink water. She did. With the sub q she is hydrated. Keep us posted.

Ohhh that's a relief to hear! I'll breathe a little easier now and just try to keep encouraging wet food. Hoping and praying not to have to take her to the vet again - just so stressful for her!

 

[FeebysOwner]

She’s sneezing less but I think that’s actually a bad thing because the mucus is just kinda stuck.

Another thing to consider is running hot water in a bathtub/shower with the door closed, to build up steam, and then sit with her in the bathroom for 5 or so minutes to see if that helps with the congestion.

 

[Furballsmom]

If she continues the head-shaking you'll want to contact a vet and tell them about that, and also give them a summary of your first post.

Maybe something here might help;
Any Good Tips To Get Your Cats To Eat? Share Them Here!

 

[eva21513]

Another thing to consider is running hot water in a bathtub/shower with the door closed, to build up steam, and then sit with her in the bathroom for 5 or so minutes to see if that helps with the congestion.

ahh I forgot to mention, I have been doing that once a day! I might start doing it a couple times a day, though. I’m developing a cold myself and noticing how quickly the benefit of a steamy shower - forgive the pun - evaporates!

If she continues the head-shaking you'll want to contact a vet and tell them about that, and also give them a summary of your first post.

Maybe something here might help;
Any Good Tips To Get Your Cats To Eat? Share Them Here!

Thank you!! I’ve got all those tools in my arsenal! Just managed to get her to take a few licks of tiki cat broth. She’s interested in food but it seems like eating exacerbates her congestion - makes sense thinking of when I’ve had really bad sinus infections. Of course when people say “You have to eat to get better!” to me, I have the advantage of speaking the language. Must be even worse for her because she has to bend her face down to eat! (I do have a food pedestal but she still has to turn her face down.) I might just be projecting though.

I’ll keep an eye on the head shaking. Definitely don’t want an ear infection on top of everything else! Might call the vet no matter what though, since she’s occasionally breathing through her mouth. Wonder if they could do a sinus rinse or something.

 

[stephanietx]

Find some stinky wet food like the classic Fancy Feast pate. Put a little in a bowl and add warm water to it so it's a thick oatmeal consistency and offer it to her. If she's congested, she can't smell her food.

 

[Furballsmom]

How are things today?

 

[eva21513]

Find some stinky wet food like the classic Fancy Feast pate. Put a little in a bowl and add warm water to it so it's a thick oatmeal consistency and offer it to her. If she's congested, she can't smell her food.

Thank you!!! I got her to eat a little bit of a can of Fancy Feast with a bit of water added, as well as some Sheba salmon wet food. She's still preferentially going for the dry food for some reason. It's not even yummy dry food, it's Science Diet W/D. However, I am happy to report....

How are things today?

She's currently laying down right next to a bowl of water and drinking in big long bursts every once in a while! She wasn't able to do this yesterday - she'd start snorting and having trouble getting air in if she took more than a few sips. Her breathing is less noisy today, and while she's not playing like normal, she's returning to some of her normal routines. She woke me up at 6 bringing me all her balls - she wasn't really enthusiastically/energetically chasing them, but it's a step closer to normalcy. Fingers crossed she keeps on this track!

 

[Furballsmom]

Fingers crossed she keeps on this track!

oh, sweet baby, keep listening to your mama and hanging in there!!

 

[stephanietx]

Yay for eating!! My kitties always prefer dry food when they're sick. I don't understand it.

 

[eva21513]

Furballsmom , FeebysOwner , stephanietx and anyone and everyone else - just looking for some input (it’s 11:30pm here) - Millie keeps doing this (video link at end of post) sometimes every 10ish seconds for whole minutes at a time... is this a cough? Reverse sneeze? Weird regular sneeze? If she was your cat, would you bring her to the vet tomorrow? (They won’t even look at videos/pictures.) She’s eating well, drinking well, interested in play, following me around, sneezing less, but this is a new symptom and it’s freaking me out. She seems really uncomfortable when it’s happening too. Here’s the video:

 

[FeebysOwner]

It could be a reverse sneeze. Usually done to clear environmental irritants from a cat's airway. Could it be tied to dust or perhaps even arid conditions in a heated house? Dustiness and dryness seem to be more common in colder months when the heat is running, and seems to escalate over time.

How is her congestion/breathing otherwise?

 

[Furballsmom]

If she was your cat, would you bring her to the vet tomorrow?

Due to the frequency and length of time that she's doing this, if it were me, I'd take her. Have this video or a longer one with you and make them look at it since the liklihood that she'll do it while she's there is practically zero, just because that's so often how things work out. Hang in there!!

 

[eva21513]

It could be a reverse sneeze. Usually done to clear environmental irritants from a cat's airway. Could it be tied to dust or perhaps even arid conditions in a heated house? Dustiness and dryness seem to be more common in colder months when the heat is running, and seems to escalate over time.

How is her congestion/breathing otherwise?

Thank you!! I live in a rather old house and it's perpetually dusty. I spend at least an hour cleaning every day, and now that I have Millie and have been thinking she might have allergies, it's more like 2-3 hours most days, but there's still always dust. Every day. I just bought and set up two air purifiers, and I've got two humidifiers running most of the day (keeping it at 50 humidity).

She seems, touch wood, to be improving overall - ever since she got sick, until yesterday, she hadn't purred, but she's started purring, kneading, etc again the last two days. Her voice is back to normal. Breathing is less noisy. She is still sneezing a bit, but the discharge is runnier, and it's nowhere near as often. Playing and eating like normal. Grooming herself again (she completely stopped doing that)

Due to the frequency and length of time that she's doing this, if it were me, I'd take her. Have this video or a longer one with you and make them look at it since the liklihood that she'll do it while she's there is practically zero, just because that's so often how things work out. Hang in there!!

Thank you!!! As it turns out, my vet was closed for a deep clean due to a Covid cluster, so I have not been able to get her in yet. The alternative was to take her to the emergency vet, which is an hour each way, and I'm hesitant to traumatize her in the car again :/ I'm keeping a watchful eye. Knock on wood - she seems to be improving and the vet I spoke to said this could all go on for up to three weeks and still be normal. She's definitely doing it much less the past few days, particularly today. I'd love to work on some POSITIVE car / carrier experiences for her before she needs to go to the vet again - fingers and toes crossed!

 

[Furballsmom]